Have you found the one?

[BassJuju]

A recent acquisition and a few other posts along this line have given me reason to ask a few questions. I never understood it when folks talked about the one, but now I am beginning to understand. I am curious to hear from those that feel they have found it.

For now, I don’t want to imprint my feelings on the responses. So, Let’s go with 2 questions...

1. How did you know you’d found your one?

2. What did you do with the rest once you knew?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

 

[jd56hawk]

1) Sometimes it's easy. Sometimes you pick up a bass and plug it in and it's so obvious you forget about almost every bass you've ever played. Happened to me more than once. Why? Because I never believed in absolutes, but I absolutely know what I want in a bass.
2) No need to do anything with the other basses I own other than keep them.

 

[Iridescentone]

1. How did you know you’d found your one?

2. What did you do with the rest once you knew?

1) I knew early on that my '69 Fireglo Ric was "the one" when our crappy garage band played a private party one night. We sucked hard, but afterwards a hot chick told me my bass looked cool. Then we hook'd up. That's when I knew that 4001 was "the one".

2) A month later I called to tell her I got a new bass, and would she like to see it? It was a Fender. She said yeah and then the Fender became "the one".

That is the genesis of my GAS, and why it pays to churn gear as often as possible.

 

[eastcoasteddie]

When I started playing 25 years ago, the Stingray was “the one”. I then started branching out into other flavors of bass, and at this point in time, a Jazz is “the one” for me...but it took a good long time and several jazzes over the years to get there...so maybe in 10 years, something else will be the one...

 

[kesslari]

By the time I ordered my Zon I had a very good idea of exactly what I wanted in a fretless bass. Joe made exactly what I asked for and it was indeed The One. Fits and sounds just right.
Haven’t had GAS for another bass since this one arrived in 2011.

 

[sharkbait130]

For me , it is a '99 mim P Bass that I picked up on craigslist several years ago. The advertised price was really good so I figured it was worth a look. It sounded good but the action was kinda crappy. I looked down the neck and it had a nice even bow to it. I managed to talk the guy down $25 and grabbed it. When I got it home , I cranked the truss rod about one full turn. Action was pretty good at this point. A couple of tweeks on the bridge and it played great. Plugged it into the big rig and it sounded really good. Tossed a set of Chromes on it and I was in heaven. It's been my main player ever since. Everyone that has played has complemented it. It pretty much ended my gas for any other basses. A couple of years later , another one ,almost identical to it came up on craigslist. Pretty much the same deal. I grabbed it , set it up and was VERY happy with it. It's been my back up ever since. I haven't so much as looked at any other basses since getting these two. I already had two other basses and kept them both. They are in my practice room now , one tuned to E and the other to Eb. It's amazing how many songs are on You Tube in Eb.

 

[Fliptrique]

Yep. My patriot 4 is not going anywhere.

 

[two fingers]

Nope. And I don't want to. I want to keep buying and selling basses until I can't play any more. I love trying different things.

The same goes for amps.

I'm done wife shopping though.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I had a specific sound that I thought a Rickenbacker should sound like & one day I heard it, but from a Ibanez with Nordstrand pickups.
It just had a character & a responsiveness I'd never heard prior.
Haven't purged the others yet, but I may before the year is through.

 

[MD Stingray]

Every bass I buy, is "the one"

Until I'm fed up with and it has to go for a new "the one"

 

[Dabndug]

No, but I have found "the ones".

 

[baileyboy]

1. How did you know you’d found your one?

2. What did you do with the rest once you knew?

My '74 P is the one. I sniped it on eBay at the last couple seconds of a bidding war. This, only after lots of questions and photos to convince me this bass was for me. Cowtown Guitars was the seller. I knew after a couple minutes of playing it that it was special. I've owned it for 5-6 years now, love it.

The only other bass I now own is a Geddy J. That pretty much rounds out my arsenal and gives me all I need as far as sound, tone, etc. The rest have been sold off over the last couple of years, no regrets.

 

[Hevy T]

I have 10, "The Ones" here!

So good luck in finding it! It ain't gonna happen

 

[interp]

Three years ago I found my current “The One” on a builder’s website and even before buying it I sold two previous “The Ones” as well as an expensive amplifier to finance it. In the final analysis, they’re all just objects that serve a purpose, with no inherent value other than what we attach to them. (This, by the way, is why I reject the concept of “mojo” as anything other than a mental construct.)

But I think this one may be my final “One.”

 

[soulman969]

There's never been "just one" for me. Even early on I needed a PBass and a Jazz Bass and I still do just as I have hammers and screwdrivers. I've typically used a 5 string less in the past but that's changing so I bought one.

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

I haven’t found THE ONE, but I have found THE ONES. It took me a long time to find a Jazz bass and a 5 string that felt right & brought the sounds I heard in my head. Every jazz bass I encountered never measured up. I bought my husband a Sire V3-5 and it was close but still the neck was a slight struggle for my small hands. I had been watching 2 female Gospel/Worship bassist play the Fender Elite Jazz V. I liked what I was hearing and got to looking at the specs online. Found out the neck was not only satin but radiused and decided to go check it out. I remembered how comfy my MTD Beast, CRB , and AG-5 were with radiused necks. Once I got the Fender Elite Jazz V in my hands I couldn’t put it down. It felt just right.

It was the same way with my MusicMan Caprice. Instantly smitten.
Every other bass has had to grow on me in one way or another . It’s very rare that I find basses that check all of the boxes for me. Seems there is always something I don’t like about them. It does take time and experiencing different basses to figure out what we like and prefer. It realized that I like my Jazz basses to be 5 strings with active / passive options.
The Caprice gives me a great playing light weight P with a lot of versatility from the added bridge humbucker. Being that it’s a passive inline humbucker, it gives me a slight taste of that classic 2band Stingray tone. Not as thick , but depending on how I blend it, it can get close but stays nice and smooth.

My Fender and my MusicMan are THE ONES. If a 5 string Caprice is ever made, things might change.

 

[InnerBass]

As soon as I picked her up.

 

[bobba66]

My Fender American Standard Precision is everything I need. Pretty sweet bass.

 

[Spidey2112]

1) I knew early on that my '69 Fireglo Ric was "the one" when our crappy garage band played a private party one night. We sucked hard, but afterwards a hot chick told me my bass looked cool. Then we hook'd up. That's when I knew that 4001 was "the one".

2) A month later I called to tell her I got a new bass, and would she like to see it? It was a Fender. She said yeah and then the Fender became "the one".

That is the genesis of my GAS, and why it pays to churn gear as often as possible.

Your name isn't Scott Pilgrim, is it?

 

[Dr. Cheese]

I have always admired Marcus Miller because he decided early on that his Jazz Bass his sound and also a key of his musical indentity. He was smart enough to know that a constantly changing tone would render him faceless. That said, some people, like Geddy Lee are great at getting their sound out of very different basses.

I think lesser players often play many basses, showing different levels of skill, but not showing a clear indentity. I guess what I am saying is that for a bass to be THE ONE, it has to feel perfect, but it also needs to make you indentifiable too.